************************************************************************** * * * THIS IS THE WD0GML-AMSAT-ST.LOUIS BBS 24HR 7DAY AT (314)447-3003 * * 300/1200/2400 BAUD * * Mike Parisey WD0GML SYSOP * * Norm Newman NZ0Z Co-SYSOP * * * ************************************************************************** SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-007.01 ASR TO BE REPLACED HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 007.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD JANUARY 7, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT Amateur Satellite Report To Be Replaced By A New Publication The next Amateur Satellite Report, ASR #186, went to the printers this week and will be mailed early next week. This particular issue of ASR will be a "double issue" and the following ASR, ASR #188, will be the last one published. Starting soon there will be the new AMSAT-NA Newsletter which will be coming to all AMSAT-NA members. The Editor of this new publication will be Joe Kasser, G3ZCZ/W3. Many long time AMSAT members will remember that G3ZCZ was the Editor of the "original" AMSAT Newsletter published during the 70's and also the Editor of "ORBIT" magazine during the 80's. Joe once again returns to be an Editor for AMSAT for this new publication. For almost eight years ASR was the means by which AMSAT members kept up-to-date with the exciting world of amateur radio satellites. But with the advent of packet radio and "land-line" BBS's, the AMSAT News Service (ANS) Bulletin items became easily accessible to thousands amateur radio operators and satellite enthusiast all over the world. Many of the same items which appeared in the ANS Bulletins each week appeared again in ASR, "verbatim." This led many members to question the value of ASR due to their "perceived" redundancy of this information. Likewise, many members expressed a wish to see a new type of newsletter in the same vein as the "old" AMSAT Newsletter of the 70's but yet not quite as "glossy" as "ORBIT" magazine. So based on these considerations, the AMSAT Board of Directors at their annual meeting last November in Atlanta voted to discontinue ASR and replace it with a new publication; G3ZCZ was appointed Editor. More details will be forthcoming in the next couple of weeks about this "banner" publication but AMSAT members can expect to see longer articles dealing with satellite operations, construction projects, and topics of general interest to the OSCAR satellite users. Satellite users can always get the latest information about operating conditions from the many regional and local AMSAT-NA Nets conducted each week and the many hundreds of packet radio BBS's which, as a matter of routine, now make it possible to download the latest ANS Bulletins to anyone who wishes to have them. /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-007.02 QUIKTRAK 4.0 AVAILABLE SOON HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 007.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD JANUARY 7, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT N4HY Working To Release QUIKTRAK 4.0 Version Soon Bob, N4HY, will be putting the finishing touches on his next version of QUIKTRAK 4.0 version in the next couple of weeks and he promises that there will be no more "leap year" bugs! Bob says that QUIKTRAK 4.0 will fix all known bugs of version 3.2. Also, he says that all his internal time keeping functions have been completely reworked and that extensive testing has been done to assure that the formulae are correct. N4HY has added a lot of new capability to his QT 4.0 version and the following is a just a partial list of the new functions: 1) Full tracking capability of the sun, moon, and planets 2) 100 satellite Keplerian file 3) 100 city data file 4) Realtime Autotracking available for up to fourteen satellites 5) Function to search for mutual visability windows between two cities or a city and your QTH for any satellite 6) Function that will predict visual observability of a satellite in a "schedule" format and also produce an AZ/EL table in time steps 7) Full screen editing cabability of all data files The update procedure for those who hold valid copies of QT 3.2 will be the same as outlined in the users documentation file which came with the original QT 3.2 disk. For further informaton about the avail- ability of QT 4.0 contact AMSAT-NA Headquarters at (301) 589-6062. /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-007.03 USEFUL AO-13 EQUATIONS BY G3RUH HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 007.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD JANUARY 7, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT G3RUH Presents Useful Equations For All AO-13 Users James Miller, G3RUH, has been quite busy providing formulae which have quite a bit of usefulness to all AO-13 users. The following algorithms have been provided to us by G3RUH to help us calculate these most important items: To: ALL AO-13 Number Crunchers, Computers and Calculating Engines: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- AO-13 users will have noticed the spacecraft's MA counter loses about 6 seconds per day when compared with ground-based software. You can use the following formula to predict actual events to within a second or so: T event = (ORBIT + MA/256)*0.476905484 - 199.767268 days UTC, 1989 Example: Mode B off, ORBIT 449, at MA 240 happens at T event = (449+240/256)*0.476905484 - 199.767268 = 14.8103932 = 1989 Jan 14 [Sat] @ 1926:58 UTC ----------------------------------------------------------------------- NASA Keplerian element sets have AO-13's orbit number wrong by 1. "Correct" value is telemetered by AO-13. You can compute the correct one for 1989 can be found from the following formula: ONO = INT( DATIM*2.096994 + 418.885) where DATIM = DAY + (HR +MIN/60)/24 ( = epoch time in kep sets) and INT means "integer part of" You can check a kep set by simply plugging in the epoch time at "DATIM". ----------------------------------------------------------------------- OSCAR-13 Keplerians (Smoothed) EPOCH YEAR=1988: EPOCH DAY NUMBER=330.289337: INCLINATION=57.43: RAAN=230.40: ECCEN=0.6610 ARG OF PER=194.35: MEAN ANOMALYA=0.0: MEAN MOTION=2.09699368 rev/day: REV=344: SMA=25783 These are based on smoothing all kep sets (about 6) to date. Please print these equations out and pin them to your shack wall -- you need never want again! ------------------------------------------------------ MODE L SSB UPLINK POWER REQUIREMENTS E.I.R.P. = (R/40000)^2/(COS(SQ))^12 kw assuming RHCP, and a SQ < 30 where R = range in km from your QTH to AO-13, and SQ = spacecraft "squint" or pointing angle in degrees. This formula is based on empirical data collected from dozens of measurements. It gives a "minimum" SSB return of about 6 dB SNR. The spread is MAX = 37.5 dbW @ 40000 km with a squint angle = 30 degrees; MIN = 27.0 dbW @ 28000 km at 0 degrees squint angle. All these calculations assume that the trans- ponder noise floor is audible and normal loading. Double the power requirment for linear polarization. [NOTE TO NCS: Due to the length of the rest of this item you may wish to skip this next group of algorithms and have the interested persons download them off their local packet BBS.] To: All ALGORITHMISTS AND LEAP YEAR HATERS The following notes are reproduced from my full article that was widely circulated in 1986 (and just as widely ignored!). 30.6 DAYS HATH SEPTEMBER ------------------------ by James Miller G3RUH All satellite programs involve manipulating dates in some way and if you ever need an example of ugly coding, look no further than the typical amateur calendar routine! I recently came across one famous "Loony" program that took over 30 program lines just to manipulate two dates AND got it wrong. Here's a right way! ALGORITHM 1: DATE to DAY NUMBER -------------------------------- Takes a date in the form of year, month and day of month and calculates its day number. Valid from 1582 onwards: D0 = -722528:REM For AMSAT day number ) D0 = -428:REM For GENERAL day number )) CHOOSE ONE ONLY D0 = 1720982:REM For Julian Day at noon ) REM Enter wih Year YR e.g. 1989, Month MN, Day DY. Result is Day Number DN Y = YR: M = MN: D = DY: REM Preserve YR, MN, DY IF M <= 2 THEN M = M+12: Y = Y-1 DN = -INT(Y/100)+INT(Y/400)+15 + INT(Y*365.25) + INT((M+1)*30.6) + D + D0 NOTES: 1. You can usually omit the century parts of the calculation so that: DN = INT(Y*365.25) + INT((M+1)*30.6) + D + D0 This restricts the algorithm to 1900 Mar 01 until 2100 Feb 28, 2. Three values for D0 are given; choose only one though! ALGORITHM 2: DAY NUMBER TO DATE -------------------------------- REM Enter with day number (DN). Results are Year (Y), Month (M) and REM Day (D), the day (D$), and month (M$) as strings. D = DN - D0: REM Note 1 DW = (D+5) - 7*INT((D+5)/7): REM Note 2 D = D + INT( INT((D+36387)/36524.25) * 3/4) - 15: REM Note 3 Y = INT((D-122.1)/365.25): D = D-INT(Y*365.25) M = INT(D/30.61): D = D-INT(M*30.6) M = M-1: IF M > 12 THEN M = M-12: Y = Y+1 D$ = MID$("SunMonTueWedThuFriSat",3*DW+1,3): REM Note 2 M$ = MID$("JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec",3*M-2,3): REM Note 4 NOTES: 1. Value for D0 must be as chosen for date to day number algorithm 1. 2. DW is day-of-the-week, and is 0 for Sunday. Omit if you don't need. 3. You may omit this line for dates within 1900 Mar 01 - 2100 Feb 28 4. Omit if you don't want the month in letters. 5. DATE$=STR$(Y)+" "+M$+" "+STR$(D)+" ["+D$+"]" will generate a string like: 1988 Dec 25 [Sun] QUICK ALGORITHMS 3: ------------------- he following two algorithms will give you GENERAL day numbers from the year and day of the year (Jan 1st = 1): Date to Day Number DN = INT((YEAR-1)*365.25) + DAY Day Number to Year/Day of Year YEAR = INT((DN+365)/365.25) DAY = DN - INT((YEAR-1)*365.25) Valid from 1901 Jan 01 - 2100 Dec 31 (General day numbers 693976 thru 767024). The GENERAL day number here is the SAME as for algorithms 1 and 2 above. WARNING - Don't Ignore This ---------------------------- INT(X) means "the largest integer smaller than X". Thus INT(-1.5) is -2. Some machines will give -1. The definition given is regular through zero. If your machine gives -1 take great care - and complain to the manufacturer! In addition it is assumed that your computer/cal- culator can multiply 0.6 by 5, or divide 21 by 7 and get the result 3, not 2.9999999. If it doesn't you may need to take corrective action. Best wishes - James G3RUH, Cambridge, England. 1989 Jan 03 [Tue] (General day number 726120, Amsat day 4020) ------------------------------------------------------ /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-007.04 Short Burst Items This week AO-13 made an attitude change and to just remind users so as to not be suprised the following is the latest operating schedule: OSCAR-13 Operating Schedule: V5.0 Effective 06Jan89 |------|-----------|----------|----------------------| | Mode | From | Thru | Remarks | | | (Inclus) | (Inclus) | | |======|===========|==========|======================| | Off | MA 240 | MA 003 | Solar Eclipse Window | | B | MA 003 | MA 100 | | | L | MA 100 | MA 150 | Mode JL Optional | | B | MA 150 | MA 240 | | |======|===========|==========|======================| The Bahn Coordinates after the attitude change on January 6th will be: Bahn Latitude=0.0 degrees, Bahn Longitude=180.0 degrees. Mode S operat- ional times will be announced later on the AO-13 beacon. This schedule will remain in effect until March 15, 1989. At that time the schedule again be adjusted to account for solar eclipse periods. All AMSAT members are remined that AO-10 is back on line and is available for use. According to AO-10 Ground Command Station, ZL1AOX, there will be no solar eclipses for AO-10 during the next month and a half so users are encouraged to use AO-10 anytime they have it in view. The next solar eclipses will begin again around Febuary 15th. Users of AO-10 are reminded to use as mininium power as possible for communic- ations and to start watching for "FMing" of the transponder starting around Febuary 1st. If you do hear "FMing" you are requested to cease operations on AO-10. Due to the way N4HY performs "internal" time-keeping functions in his Quiktrak 3.2 versions, there is a "pesky software bug" which keeps popp- ing up from time to time. Users will note that Quiktrak 3.2 losses a day starting December 31, 1988. However, this is NOT a fatal problem! Users can work around this problem by performing the following: 1) Wait until you have a complete set of Keplerian elements for 1989 for the satellites in your Quiktrak database, i.e., all the satellite epoch years are 89. 2) Go to the "QTH" data storage function and replace the current year (dennoted by "CY") with 89. 3) Then enter all the 1989 epoch year Keplerian orbital data sets into your Quiktrak database at one time. Users of the W3IWI program will need a new "sideral angle" value for the year '89 to insert into their tracking program inorder for it calculate properly the AOS and LOS times. For the year 1989 the sideral time angle is: 0.27676777. OSCAR-13 First Day QSL Cards continue to be mailed out from AMSAT-NA Headquarters but many more still remain to be processed. If you haven't received yours yet -- be patient -- it should be on its way to you soon. For those who would like to receive a QSL from U2MIR you can send your QSL confirming your contact to: B. Stepanov, UW3AX, P.O. Box 679, USSR, MOSCOW, 107207. The following is the latest Operating schedule of Fuji OSCAR-12: ********************************************** Operating schedule for the FUJI/FO-12 ********************************************** Mode From (UTC) Mode From (UTC) -------------------- -------------------- JA 1/ 3 23:22 JA 2/11 06:24 D 4 22:28 D 12 07:33 JA 7 13:35 JA 15 04:49 D 8 14:43 D 16 05:58 JD* 14 13:22 JA 18 04:09 JD 14 19:32 D 19 05:58 D 15 12:28 JD 25 01:54 JD 17 12:41 D 26 05:06 D 18 11:47 JD 28 07:24 JD 20 12:01 D 3/01 06:30 D 21 13:10 JD 25 09:32 D 26 10:40 JA 29 10:00 D 30 09:05 There are three modes of operation as follows: JA : analog transponder on. JD : digital transponder on, every two hours using this epoch D : transponder off. The transponders will be off at other time. The schedule may change due to unexpected power situations! Note: *On January 14 from 13:22 through 15:22 UTC, a special telemetry software package will be loaded to permit telemetry transmission every 2 seconds instead of every minute. No mailbox functions will be available during this period but the digipeater will be operational. Reports of received telemetry will be appreciated. Please send them to JARL(JJ1ZUT) via the FO-12 mailbox. *Periods of very low power generation often occurrs recently, so mode DI is replaced by mode D. *Operation is subject to change out of the schedule, due to power condition. When power condition recover, operation will go back to the nearest schedule. *Please do not use when the bus voltage of the satellite is less than 13 Volts, which is obtained from telemetry data of JA. Battery voltage is shown by 1A of JA telemetry frame, and by #2 of JD telemetry frame. *Also please read telemetry item of 5A, 500 means operation being on schedule and 520 means operating out of schedule, though JA is on. Please use in case of 500 only. Japan Amateur Radio League P.O. BOX 377 Tokyo Central /EX FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! THE FOLLOWING ADDED BY WD0GML-AMSAT-ST.LOUIS (314) 447-3003 24hr 7day 300/1200/2400 baud. This section may have additions through the week! THIS BBS: This BBS will be shut down SUNDAYS from about 1730UTC untill 1900UTC due to RFI troubles. I presently help WD0HHU Dave with the 20mtr AMSAT NET during this time period. When I XMIT on HF the board is very eradict and in an effort to prevent disconnections to the users I thought it best to just turn the BBS off. I am sorry for any inconvience to you the users. The 20mtr AMSAT NET conviens at 1730 UTC @ 14.282+/- QRM the first 1 1/2 hrs is informal and you are most welcome to check in to say Hi or field questions. The bulletins will be transmitted at 1900 the first 30min EAST the second WEST. Both Dave and myself look very much forward to meeting you on 20. Thank you 73 Mike WD0GML MIR NEWSLETTERS: To: EXH019 (10083:EXH019) From: NOS.HOBBYSCOOP (NLX1024) Delivered: Wed 28-Dec-88 12:00 GMT Sys 12427 (63) Subject: NewsMir.060/061 Mail Id: IPM-12427-881228-108020001 NEWSMIR.061 22 DECEMBER 1988. (NEWSMIR.060 incorporated in this file) RETURN SOYUZ-TM6 TO EARTH ON 21 DEC. 1988. Landing 180 KM from Dzheskazgan at 0957UTC. As soon as we heard that the return had been postponed we had reason to expect bad news, but as ultimately all went well, we got a possibility to receive radiotraffic, we never got before! The original plan was to land at appr. 0650UT and that is just before the stations come in our range. Now we had two passes with radiotraffic! MIR and Soyuz-TM6 had communications with TsUP in the same period, 0928-0937UTC: S-TM6: 0928-0935UT: Manarov: Guided descend is there, our little machine worked smoothly, is not it? (the engine worked between 0909 and 0912 and 43 secs. UTC) 0932UT: Titov: The Okeany are now on an altitude of 159 KM at 1232MT (0932UT). The separation is switched on and works, guided descend is now going on. All is stable! 0935UT: Loss of S-TM6 signals (also those on 166.138mc) (S-TM6 started to enter atmosphere at 0939UTC!) MIR: Volkov askes whether the separation is in good order and says to have received signals. He is very pleased that the operation is proceeding well, but it would be better if the "boys" already were flying to Moscow. V. asks the time of the S-TM6 entering the atmosphere. TsUP: 1239MT (so 0939UT) Some remarks: The Okeany went to the Spacecentre near Moscow instead of (as usual) going to Baykunur. This to be able to give them better care (necessary after a flight of 366 days) and more sophisticated facilities. MIR flight goes on: REDOCKING SOYUZ-TM7 FROM KVANT AFT PORT TO P.KH.O. FRONT PORT IN THE MORNING OF 22 DEC. 1988: Operation executed by Volkov and Krikalyov while Polyakov was watching them. V. and K. were very enthousiastic. During passes that day a lot of conversation about the conservation of the S-TM7. This has been done by Krikalyov. There also has been a short conversation with correspondent Vladimir Bezhayev. LAUNCH OF PROGRESS-39 (FREIGHTER) TO MIR WITHIN A FEW DAYS: This is possible as the Kvant port is free now. New supplies are badly needed. Krikalyov seems to recover from a period in which space disease was bothering him. TsUP now and then asks whether Krikalyov is feeling well. He is very active now, also with astrophysical experiments. Polyakov is keeping quiet in this period. Probably he needs some rest after the strenuous period with the recordholders Titov and Manarov. Greetings, happy new year, Chris van den Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202 NEWSMIR.062 25 DECEMBER 1988. PROGRESS-39 LAUNCHED FOR FLIGHT TO MIR. As expected and referred to by the cosmonauts theirselves this launch took place from Baykonur on 25 Dec. 1988 at 0412UTC. If they keep to the normal schedule the freighter will need 2 days to have rendez-vous with the MIR-station. I expect the actual docking on 27 Dec. 1988 at appr. 0530UTC. Some minutes before we can expect radiotraffic as Pr-39 then will be within our reach on a very low and short pass. The cosmonauts will give navigational data regarding the final phase of the approach. (Fuel consumption, angles around X-, Y- and Z-axes, etc.) The cosmonauts will have to wait 2 months for the next freighter Progress-40, which will be launched in February 1989. Greetings, Chris van den Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202. NEWSMIR.063 27 DECEMBER 1988. PROGRESS-39 DOCKED TO MIR/KVANT AT 0538UT ON 27-XII-1988. For this docking as usual the Kvant aft docking port was used. During the first pass in orb. 16423 0526-0533UT there was radiotraffic going on and it was obvious that the operation was in its final phase and proceeded smoothly. Volkov reported only a few attitude data and confirmed the reception of data from TsUP. During the next pass (orb. 16424, 0658-0708UT) the cosmonauts stated that all proceeded as planned. There was confirmation of the opening of the hatch to Progress-39 in the following pass (0832-0842UT). A smell of fresh apples reached the cosmonauts from out the Progress-39. They enjoyed this very much. Amateur radio from MIR: the new crew already spoke about "radio amateurs" and so we can expect activities in this field. Greetings, and 73-s, Chris van den Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202. MICROSAT-AVATAR: I recently attended the Fall '89 AGU (American Geophysical Union) meeting in San Fransisco. A company was exhibiting there calling themselves AVATAR, their product: "American MICROSAT." This was their "coming out," as they put it. I had a long talk with the exhibitor. They and we are competing for the same market and the same customers, indeed, some of the contacts that we have made (NSF, LPO, etc.), they have made also. Whether anything has yet been lost, or if we care, or if we should care, is unclear to me at this time. I dont think that what you found on USENET last week was the same thing, so there appear to be at least three MICROSATs. From the way the USENET message read, this MICROSAT sounds more like a board to go in a computer and some software to get data into and out of it, but I could be wrong. I have placed the text of the AVATAR handout on the DOCS board for any who are interested. Courtney, N5BF NOTE: THE AVATAR TEXT IS IN THE AMSAT AREA FOR DOWNLOADING QUIKTRAK V4.0 UPDATE FROM N4HY: Quiktrak 4.0 is really almost done as reported by Dave in this weeks news. It will go out to THE ALREADY SELECTED Beta testers in the next couple of weeks to test all the new computational and data editing functions while I finish the EGA/VGA map drawing functions. Thanks much to James Miller for his interesting article on calculation of a reasonable internal epoch in programs. Indeed, this is the exact method used in QT 4.0 now. The D0 I use (read James note) is based upon January 0.0 of the year indicated by CY in the QTH file. This allows you to maintain a ridiculous level of accuracy. 73 Bob Space Education Net Schedule (SEN015): The next session of the Space Education Net (SEN) has been scheduled for Saturday, January 14, 1989. The mode B session will run from 1530 to 1630 UTC. The downlink frequency will be 145.960 MHz. No mode L session has been scheduled because of a lack of mode L net control stations. A change has been made to the SEN Slow Scan TV. This week SSTV will be transmitted for approximately the first 10 minutes of the bulletins. After the SEN bulletins, an informal SSTV net will convene on a downlink frequency of 145.965 MHz. Tests have shown that a SSTV signal at beacon strength provides a full quieting, P-5 picture. The SEN would like to hear from stations that have been watching the SSTV. Additional Net Control Stations are needed, particularly for the mode L sessions of the SEN. If you would like to assist the SEN in this important position please volunteer today. Contact K.O. Learner, K9PVW at P.O. Box 5006, Kokomo, IN 46904 or via packet @KD9QB with your SEN questions or comments or to volunteer to assist the SEN. Check-ins and participants are invited for both sessions.